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Amazon Exclusive: A Q&A with Joseph O'Neill

Joseph O’Neill was born in Ireland and raised in Holland. He received a law degree from Cambridge University and worked as a barrister in London. He writes regularly for The Atlantic Monthly and is the author of two previous novels, This Is the Life and The Breezes, and of a family history, Blood-Dark Track, which was a New York Times Notable Book. O'Neill received the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for his third novel, Netherland. He lives with his family in New York City.

Question: President Obama mentioned in a New York Times Magazine profile that he’s reading Netherland. How do you feel about the President reading your book?

Joseph O'Neill: I'm very honored, of course.

Joseph O'Neill: The story takes place in the aftermath of 9/11. One of the things it does is try to evoke the disorientation and darkness of that time, which we only emerged from with the election of President Obama.

Joseph O'Neill: I love sport and play cricket and golf myself. Sport is a wonderful way to bring together people who would otherwise have no connection to each other.

Joseph O'Neill: Halfway through the book I realized with a slightly sinking feeling that the plot of Netherland was eerily reminiscent of the Gatsby plot: dreamer drowns, bystander remembers. But there are only about 5 plots in existence, so I didn't let it bother me too much. Fitzgerald thankfully steered clear of cricket.

Joseph O'Neill: Yes, I would agree with that comment. This is not a novel of eventful twists and turns. It is more like a long-form international cricket match (which can last for 5 days without a winner emerging), about nuance and ambiguity and small slippages of insight. And about language, of course.

(Photo ? Lisa Acherman)

Customer Reviews:

• Straddling different worlds
  As someone who has lived for varying periods in the Caribbean, the Netherlands and New York (in the latter, including on that fateful day in September 2001), for me O'Neill's "Netherland" has a particular resonance. In a curiously detached style reminiscent of Albert Camus's "The Outsider" and with extended flashbacks to his boyhood spent in The Hague, the narrator recounts a chapter of his life when the 9/11 attack triggers a process that leads to the disintegration of his domestic and emotional world and he seeks somewhat incongruously to rebuild alone a half-life in the immigrant subculture of West Indian and South Asian cricketers, who occupy a marginal niche in the New York sporting establishment. He portrays this immigrant world in the shadows of the city with the sympathy and conviction of one who has truly lived it. His personal journey, during which he loses and regains his wife and son, is no less compelling a story. Altogether a well-written and most memorable book....more info
• much ado
  There was some nice writing in this novel, but I couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. The cricket stuff was tedious and the rest was nice enough, but nice enough isn't great. I wouldn't tell people not to read it, but I wouldn't insist they do. ...more info
• What a mess!!!!!
  This novel, and I am using that term very loosely, is terrible. I wonder how much it cost the author to buy the "award" this piece of junk won....more info
• Beautiful and Moving
  "Netherland" is a beautiful and moving story about the fragility of the lives we build for ourselves, of our sense of personal identity and of our connectedness to the world at large. As everyone knows by now, the story is set in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and turns on the (temporary) marital breakup of Dutch-born Hans van den Broeck, who finds himself rootless and at a loss in New York. Hans is the character we identify with and the one through whose eyes we see the world, but probably the more memorable figure from the book is Chuck Ramkisoon, the Trinidadian would-be Gatsby, a swindler type, who dreams of creating a professional cricket empire in the States. The interplay between what "isn't cricket" and what is ties together the theme and plot of the book throughout, and O'Neil handles the non-chronological structure of the book to very good effect. "Netherland" is really one of the best novels I've read in years, and unlike the badly over-hyped potboiler "Edgar Sawtelle" this book really lives up to expectations. ...more info
• Superb
  The story of Hans, a Dutch man by origin, who is living in New York where after 9/11 his own life falls apart when his British wife goes back to London, taking their son with her. In his loneliness Hans is driven to cricket, the sport of his childhood in the Netherlands. And he befriends Chuck Ramkissoon, also an immigrant, who plans to build a cricket stadium. Superbly written. This declaration of love for New York City, combined with memories of a Dutch childhood and the struggles of having to rebuild your life made me feel as close to this main character as seldom before....more info
• subtle, no need for big gestures, in short: my type of writer
  For me a big surprise to come across a writer I hadn't read or heard of before, who is so in synchrony with my own way of thinking. No big words, gestures or hollowness, but instead to the point, sharp as a razor and 'my generation' (born in the early sixties). After reading Netherland I got hold of copies of his two other novels, his debut "This is the Life" (1991) and "The Breezes" (1995). O'Neill also did write a marvelous non fiction work of both his grandfathers, one in prison in Ireland and the other in Palestina at some time during the wars there. A must read ...more info
• Funny and sad, the best view of post 9/11 NYC I know of
  This is a well written and knowing book. Its sad but has true wit as well....more info
• An English professor's dream?
  I should have counted the number of words I ought to have looked-up while reading Joseph O'Neil's "Netherland." They must have numbered at least one hundred. Not a bad trick to play on someone with a masters from an Ivy League university. Also, there were those inordinately complex sentences that I needed to reread at least three times to get their full meaning. Perhaps, an English professor's dream and the basis for an excellent literary essay. But the makings for a great novel? I think not, without a good plot and character development to back up those fancy words and sentences. I am perplexed why this book has been selected by The New York Times as one of the ten best books of the year and how it made the cut for the Man Booker Prize's long list. Apparently, all the reviewers were mesmerized by Mr. O'Neil's literary style to the point that they overlooked other ingredients normally associated with a good book. For me, "Netherland" was simply boring and pretentious. I plodded through to the end but then wondered why I had bothered.
  
  I decided to read "Netherland" because it has been described as a post-9/11 novel. There are several references in this book to the emotional impact of 9/11 on New Yorkers and on the main character Hans whose wife uses the threat of future terrorist acts as a pretext to move back to London along with their son. A book that I found much richer in its discussion of 9/11 was "A Thousand Veils." It tells about a lawyer, totally immersed in the corporate greed of Wall Street, whose last-minute escape from the North Tower leads him to question his values and results in his life-changing decision to assist an Iraqi refugee. This is a much more satisfying solution than Hans' response in the aftermath of the crisis to bury himself in the game of cricket.
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• The Existential New York
  Let me start by saying that this was a hard book to get into. I was a bit bored by the Cricket game and the characters were all quite aloof. However the relationships between the characters were what captivated me. Despite their diversity and their existential behavior, the characters somehow mixed well and wormed along together through a Big Apple that is full of rough spots and loneliness, but also full of a flavor and comraderie found no where else. It wasn't until the last 100 pages that I began to appreciate this and then I couldn't put it down. I love New York City not for its glamour and style, but for its grit, its diversity, and the existentialism of New Yorkers despite the enormity of population. This novel gave to me the New York I love in an elusive insidious way that only an author of great talent is cabable of. Not for all, but worth a shot. ...more info
• FLYING DUTCHMAN
  We have to be careful with ethnic stereotypes these days, but perhaps it can be suggested without giving offence that the image of the Dutch bourgeoisie is one of rationality, level-headedness and emotions under control. Almost without exception in my experience, their command of English is perfect and they fit perfectly into careers in English-speaking nations. The narrator of Netherland is exactly such a Dutchman. In his career he is an effortless high-flyer, when separated from his wife and child he flies fortnightly to London from Niew Amsterdam to visit them without a financial qualm or any seeming sense of fatigue or jet-lag, he joins his family at a moment's notice and without any apparent change of pace in a holiday in Kerala, and his receptive imagination takes flight to Trinidad as well.
  
  What is striking about Hans is that although a lot happens to him he is never the initiator of anything that happens. First his marriage falls apart, then by the end of the book it is getting together again, but his wife is the driver of both events. Intelligent, thoughtful and successful he may be, capable of a formidable amount of emotional resilience too, but tagging along like a tame dog in his wife's turbulent wake. Three extra-marital liaisons are mentioned, one in some detail. In this the woman seduces him, and when she then breaks off contact that's that and she is never even mentioned again. With the other two it seems to have been a similar story. Nothing of this nature is anywhere near as important to him as the game of cricket it seems. If anything in this superb novel strikes me as a little overdone it is the lengthy and loving musings on the great sport of the British Empire. It is only quite recently that I became aware that Holland and Ireland are making determined efforts to break into the imperial monopoly. Just how deep-rooted their love of the game is I am now beginning to understand from this tale put into the mouth of a Dutchman by an Irish author.
  
  Cricket in America seems to be a game for either English ¨¦migr¨¦s (as in Waugh) or immigrants (as here). It is starting to follow soccer in being a big-money game, but the place where the money is to be made is clearly not the USA but India. Apart from the marriage/family theme, the other main narrative is of Hans's partial involvement, typically cautious, prompted and reactive on his part, with a cricket-minded immigrant entrepreneur who strongly recalls Gatsby, not least in the man's fate mentioned at the outset and partially explained near the end. I did not really find anything amounting to a theme with regard to 9/11 or the conflict in Iraq. They are mentioned because that is the timeframe in which the story is set and it would have been rather coy if they had not been referred to in a story largely taking place in New York, but the mentions are brief and incidental. It is true that Rachel cites the post-9/11 atmosphere as her reason for taking their son away from New York, but I fancy it's clear enough that if it had not been for that reason she would have found another.
  
  This is the unfinished tale of a man whose emotions are genuine and deep - unfinished not (I hope) in the sense that there is going to be a sequel but because if anything is clear from the sequence of events here it is that neither Hans nor anyone else is likely to carry on from where the book leaves off in any placid nirvana. Hans's main characteristic is rationality. He is truthful with himself and can face up to his own shortcomings as he perceives them, but he is probably a bit too rational for his own good. If his life is going to be happy or fulfilled (whatever the latter might be in his case) that will only be so if others allow it to be. I found the whole novel to be one of the best and most involving that I have had the privilege of reading in years. I'm not myself inclined to read allegories or social/political messages into it. What this book possesses, for me, is human truth. The characterisation is exceptionally convincing, and it is helped by writing that I would describe as being of the highest quality. I do not normally have any great problem in putting novels down, but I certainly did with this one....more info
• Post 9/11 Mileu...again
  Joseph O'Neill's elegant novel about an English cricket player in post-9/11 New York is an interesting, though ultimately superficial and topical portrait of a Gatsby-esque friendship between a Dutchman and Trinidadian who go into business together. Hans' wife is leaving him and is disgusted with the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The writing falls into the pitfalls of polemics; Rachel's diatribe against the war on terror is a flat and contrived bit of historical tagging. There are finely crafted moments of narration, with many elegant descriptions of New York. But Netherland is a slim and uninteresting little book with unlikely scenarios and dialogue, and the relationships are manipulated for the sake of O'Neill's artificial political posturings. ...more info
• Wow. Wow. Brilliant
  I have not read a book this wonderful in years. The man can write a sentence that can stop you cold. This book will be a classic that people will talk about for years. I never would have believed this book could be as fantastic as all the hype. It is. Only better. Enjoy....more info
• self-indulgent characters
  This novel has some elegant writing, but I was not able to feel any empathy for the characters. The protanganist, Hans, and his wife seemed totally self-indulgent, and the plot line was not strong enough to carry the book. In short, I was extremely disappointed in light of the strong reviews in the media. ...more info
• another one not to be missed
  Netherland was truly one of the finest books I've read this year. O'Neill's writing is incredible, offering the reader a look at how one man tries to find his way and carve out a new life for himself after he is basically left alone in exile in New York City just after the events of 9/11. Without going into plot details (others have done it so well in many places), the book is simply beautiful. It's sad but at the same time funny, depicting at times what a nightmare it must be to be an immigrant (the scenes at the DMV had me laughing out loud) in this country, and the disconnection people often endure until they can find their own place or discover how to find meaning or recreate themselves by whatever means possible.
  
  I would highly recommend this book; it's definitely something you won't forget after you've read it. I read this about a week ago and still find myself thinking about it off and on. I don't think you need to live in New York City to appreciate it, either -- we're all kind of adrift in some aspect....more info
• Fine little novel
  I bought this for an on line book club of fellow English teachers from around the US and Asia. It's an easy read with many similarities in language to F. Scott Fitzgerald. Lovely writing, with much of the story revolving around cricket (the part that turned some off) and 9/11. I liked it very much....more info
• Post 9-11 New York illuminated
  Hans Van den Broek, a Dutch native living in New York after 9/11, is estranged from his wife, Rachel and befriends Chuck Ramkissoon, a man from Trinidad who envisions building a cricket emporium in New York that would popularize the game in America and around the world. It's amazing how much of this book deals with cricket, but it also focuses on the multiple worlds of New York City, from the Chelsea Hotel where Hans lives after his family is displaced following 9/11 to Staten Island, where he goes to play cricket to the neighborhoods of Brooklyn, where Chuck lives and operates a numbers game, based on an old one from Trindad called weh weh. Rachel returns to London with their son, Jake, and starts an affair with a famous chef, but Hans returns for visits and attempts to win her back. Chuck's body is found in the Gowanus Canal at the beginning of the book, but we never learn exactly how he died. He was obviously murdered amidst his varied business dealings, which occurs after he befriends Hans and provides him with countless stories about life in a New York that is far from typical. As Hans is incorporated in his world and tries to steady his own, we are illuminated about conditions in NYC in the aftermath of 9/11. Although this is frequently descibed as a 9/11 novel, there is virtually no discussion of 9/11 during the book, except once when Hans says it was a "big deal" to someone in London who downplays it. It's a post-9/11 book since it describes life in the city after it happened and there's an awareness that the world that's described is a result of the tragedy....more info
• Just okay
  This a reasonably well written book and it's an easy read. It doesn't particularly have any negatives. There are decent parts. I wish that the character Chuck was a bigger part of the book as he is quite an interesting scoundrel.
  
  As others have mentioned, this is a trip down memory lane and does have a Gatsby feel to it. This may be sacrilege but I didn't love The Great Gatsby either.
  
  Post 911 New York with a man in pain over his separation and the distance from his wife treads water until he can re-establish his life. He runs into some interesting characters and bonds with New York. Throw in cricket in New York and there you have it. It was pleasant but unremarkable....more info